Lufthansa Supervisory Board In Favor Of SAS Takeover
02 November 2010 - 7:16PM
Dow Jones News
German carrier Deutsche Lufthansa AG's (LHA.XE) supervisory
board favors the eventual takeover of Swedish carrier SAS (SAS.SK),
Supervisory Board Chairman Juergen Weber told journalists late
Monday.
"We would gladly integrate SAS," Weber said, however at the
moment the carrier is too expensive and holds too much debt, he
added.
Looking ahead Lufthansa aims to have a majority stake in all of
its holdings as the company targets global growth, Weber said.
Lufthansa needs to tap new markets in the coming 10-20 years,
and Weber said he hopes that ownership restrictions will be
eliminated in key markets such as the U.S. and China. Consolidation
in Europe is moving ahead, but isn't complete yet, he added.
Weber said he views sales at Lufthansa's Austrian Airlines and
British Midland positively, and there is no reason why BMI and
Austrian Airlines can't reach the levels of Swiss Air in terms of
profit, he added.
Further, he said the supervisory board would like outgoing Chief
Executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber to join the supervisory board.
-By Kirsten Bienk, Dow Jones Newswires, +49 (0) 40 3574 3116,
kirsten.bienk@dowjones.com